


6 Seconds

by Shaish



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, So guess what I saw, endgame spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaish/pseuds/Shaish
Summary: So I had some issues with the movie





	6 Seconds

“Six seconds,” Banner reports. Bucky stares at Steve, and Steve stares at Bucky, lips quirked up faintly on the side but brows drawn down together a bit.

“Don't do anything stupid ‘till I get back,” Steve jokes, and Bucky _remembers_. It gets him to huff, crack a faint smile too.

“How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you,” Bucky fills in right back. The words echo through him, as far back as ‘43.

Steve vanishes in a brief blip of light, there one instant and gone the next. Bruce starts counting:

“One,

two,

three,

four,

five,

six-”

...Seven, eight, nine-

But the space stays empty. Bucky draws his gaze away from Bruce's stunned, green face and lets his eyes drop to the leaves on the forest floor, over to the lake as he turns. He stares out at the glint of sunset across it, hands in his coat pockets, almost feels like he should hold his breath but it wouldn't do much. Besides, he's held it long enough, hasn't he?

Steps come up on his left and Sam eases to a stop in his periphery, warmth brushing his arm. Sam doesn't say anything, they just stare out across the lake, glittering gold like-

There's a reversed _whoosh_ behind them like a void trying to suck in space and they both turn, pausing and staring when they find Steve and-

“Natalia?” Bucky asks, brain still trying to catch up. They'd told him she'd died-

Natasha blinks back, looks over at Sam, then Banner, then up at Steve, red hair like fire in the setting sun, warm and _alive_ , and then she huffs a breath, and Bucky gets it too. _Of course_ Steve tried.

Sam moves over to her first, gently claps a hand on her shoulder. Steve says something to her, something about Barton and Bed Stuy but Bucky barely listens, just watches her look to Steve, grip his hand briefly before he pulls her into a hug. She freezes up for a moment, but then she's returning it. Steve gradually lets her go and her eyes are glistening a little when she pulls back, but she turns away after a glance and little nod at him and Sam follows, the two heading back towards the cabin while Banner starts packing up.

“You had us worried there, Cap,” Banner comments, a fact, an observation, an inquiry all rolled into one.

“No one remembers Red Skull,” Steve replies steadily, finally turning away from watching Sam and Natalia go. “I'm glad, but it makes recognizing and ignoring him harder.”

Bruce's eyebrows draw up a bit but he doesn't ask, and Bucky can't be bothered to care because Steve's eyes finally land back on him. A rush of warmth goes through his chest, as well as frost with a shot of adrenaline. It's a little like coming out of cryo, or maybe being near the sun close up in space. Steve walks over and offers his hand out and Bucky takes it, lets Steve lead him away over to the water's edge. It's nearly blinding.

It's quiet for a minute, just the birds back in their trees, some deer grazing a mile off. Quiet, peaceful. “You thought I was going to stay,” Steve says, breaking it, and Bucky nearly squeezes his hand.

“You wanted to,” Bucky replies.

Steve nods in his periphery. “I did,” he acknowledges, lowering his head to look down at their joined hands, calloused skin warm against calloused skin, then over at Bucky. Bucky takes a moment and a breath before he can look back. Steve's eyes are a lighter gray, made bright by the sun and almost as blinding to look at, depths shining from the inside out. “But I'm with you,” Steve says, deceptively calm, hand giving his a squeeze, “‘Till the end of the line, Buck.”

Bucky’s breath catches faintly, but he'll never admit to it, giving Steve's hand a squeeze in return. He can't help his gaze dropping to the shield on Steve's back, looking back up. “Gonna keep that?”

Steve's lips slowly curl up and the look in his eyes gets a little mischievous. “Actually, I was thinking-” he starts, but Bucky tugs him close, lips nearly brushing and breath ghosting warm across their mouths. Bucky just looks at Steve for a long moment, their eyes half-lidded and Steve's gaze shifting between his own.

“Tell me tomorrow,” Bucky says quietly in the years between them.

Steve's expression softens, melts into a slow, warm smile, gaze gentle. “Tomorrow,” he agrees quietly, before closing all those years with a kiss that tastes like time, finally some _time_ , old promises, and sunlight.

 _Peace_.

**Author's Note:**

> So I had some issues with the movie


End file.
